PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas (AP) — Michigan State spent the first 30 minutes playing with energy and building a huge lead, then the last 10 nearly giving it all away.

Still, the 24th-ranked Spartans came away from the Battle 4 Atlantis with a win — and the end of a brutally tough opening month of the schedule in sight.

Miles Bridges scored 21 points to help Michigan State hold off Wichita State 77-72 on Friday in the Battle 4 Atlantis third-place game.

Eron Harris added 13 points for the Spartans (4-3), who bounced back from Thursday’s loss to No. 20 Baylor in a game that left coach Tom Izzo saying his injury-hit team looked “awfully tired” and maybe a bit overwhelmed by the early schedule.

“There’s no question that this team has been through a lot,” Izzo said. “But that’s what I challenged them with. I don’t challenge them with effort, heart, I don’t challenge them very often with character issues. But I did challenge their character a little bit.”

Izzo said he sensed “great focus” from his players Friday morning.

“The most important thing is finding a way to get off the mat,” he said. “That is the most important lesson I can teach these guys whether it be in life or in basketball.”

Michigan State led by 18 midway through the half and held a 15-point lead with 8:05 left, only to see the Shockers (5-2) turn to fullcourt pressure to get back in it. Wichita State ran off a 14-0 run to get to 66-65 on Daishon Smith’s layup over Bridges with 4:13 left.

“We got stops,” Smith said. “We were able to put our athleticism into the game, and that’s what we did.”

But the Shockers couldn’t quite push ahead. Bridges and fellow freshman Cassius Winston hit key 3-pointers. And when the Shockers had one more chance to tie it, Smith missed a long straightaway 3.

Wichita State: As bad as things looked midway through the second half, the Shockers showed a downright scary fullcourt press to get back in it. Coach Gregg Marshall has tried to talk more about defense than the team’s offensive potential during three days in Atlantis; that finish might have reinforced it to his team, too.

Marshall also didn’t rule out the possibility of using pressure defense more going forward.

“I’ll just have to evaluate us and evaluate my coaching and evaluate our personnel and try to figure out a way to play more like the team in the second half than the team in the first half,” he said.

Michigan State: The Spartans looked fresh and showed a balanced offense for about 30 minutes. From there, they did just enough to hang on.

“We didn’t beat the Lakers, but we won a big game,” Izzo said, “and we did it with old-style grit for 90 percent of that game.”

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Spartans will give voters an interesting decision for the next AP Top 25 . Yes, all of the Spartans’ losses in this brutally tough opening month are to ranked teams. But will that be enough to keep a 4-3 team in the poll? Stay tuned.

Wichita State had a shot to play its way in, but two straight losses to ranked opponents ended that chance for now.

BRIDGES IN ATLANTIS

Bridges, a 6-foot-7 freshman from Flint, Michigan, went 6 for 11 from the field and made 4 of 8 3-pointers.

“Once I get going, the basket opens up a little bit more for me,” said Bridges, who scored 22 in the opener against St. John’s and had 15 against Baylor.

UP NEXT

Wichita State: The Shockers return home for a Tuesday game against Southern Nazarene, a Division II program from Bethany, Oklahoma.

Michigan State: Things don’t get any easier for the Spartans. They travel to face No. 6 Duke in its famously hostile Cameron Indoor Stadium on Tuesday in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.

HONOLULU (AP) — Kadeem Allen took the ball the length of the court and scored with 1.3 seconds left and No. 10 Arizona beat No. 12 Michigan State 65-63 on Friday night in the Armed Forces Classic.

Kobi Simmons led the Wildcats in the season opener for both teams with 18 points while Lauri Markkanen scored 13 points and grabbed six rebounds. Allen finished with 10 points.

The Wildcats won despite playing without guard Allonzo Trier, who is out for unspecified reasons. Trier was Arizona’s third-leading scorer last season at 14.8 points per game.

Michigan State freshman Miles Bridges wowed the crowd with some impressive dunks and he finished with 21 points and seven rebounds.

The Wildcats are also missing redshirt freshman Ray Smith, who tore his right ACL for the second straight year during an exhibition game against College of Idaho. The torn ACL was Smith’s third in three years, leading him to end his basketball career.

Michigan State announced last month that forward Ben Carter, a graduate transfer from UNLV, needed knee surgery that will keep him out “an extended period,” after he was hurt while defending a shot.

BIG PICTURE

ARIZONA: Michigan State was the Wildcats’ highest-ranked season-opening opponent since 2001-02 when they opened against No. 2 Maryland. Expect the Wildcats to compete for the Pac-12 title and a potential deep run in the NCAA Tournament. How long Trier is out will play a big role early in the season.

MICHIGAN STATE: This was the first of several big tests in November. The Spartans will face second-ranked Kentucky, No. 1 Duke and potentially, No. 13 Louisville later this month. They have never faced three top 15 opponents in November and have never played four top 15 opponents in any month during the regular season.

UP NEXT

ARIZONA: Arizona faces Cal State Bakersfield on Tuesday in Tucson.

MICHIGAN STATE: The Spartans will play No. 2 Kentucky at the Champions Classic in New York on Tuesday.

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State’s basketball roster has taken another hit.

The school announced Wednesday forward Gavin Schilling hurt his right knee last week in practice and will need surgery. Schilling is out indefinitely.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo says Schilling had been practicing “very well,” after an “incredible summer,” going into his senior season. He averaged 3.8 points and 3.1 rebounds in 24 games last season after recovering from a toe injury.

Spartans forward Ben Carter, a graduate transfer from UNLV, had knee surgery last week and will be sidelined indefinitely.

Without Schilling and Carer, the Spartans have only two players that are 6-foot-7 or taller.

Izzo will be counting on perhaps his best recruiting class to make up for the loss of the two injured players, four who went on to play in the NBA and two transfers.

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (AP) — When Shaquille O’Neal was 10 years old, his father made a prediction. Friday night when his son became a Hall of Famer, it was realized.

“If I know my father, he’s up there arguing with Wilt (Chamberlain) that his son is the best big man in the game,” Shaq said.

Shaq and Allen Iverson headlined the 10-member Class of 2016 enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Friday. One of the most star-packed classes in recent memory, it also featured Michigan State head coach Tom Izzo, international star Yao Ming, WNBA great Sheryl Swoopes, and owner Jerry Reinsdorf, an architect in the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls championship teams of the 1990s.

Izzo has become the face of the blue-collar Michigan State team while leading it to seven Final Fours and the NCAA championship in 2000.

He thanked his parents, Carl and Dororthy, for being his first mentors. The 90-year-old Dorothy was in attendance, but Carl passed away last September.

Izzo briefly got choked up as he spoke of his father, who he said instilled in him a work ethic that remains with him today.

“The seven Final Fours and championship are just frosting on the cake,” Izzo said.

Posthumous honorees were: 27-year NBA referee Darell Garretson; John McLendon, the first African-American coach in a professional league; Zelmo Beaty, the former NBA and ABA star who led Prairie View to an NAIA title in 1962; and Cumberland Posey, who is also a member of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Shaq was an instant box office draw during his career because of his mammoth frame and rim-shaking dunks. But he also exhibited a personality that was as playful was it was engaging. He showed off all of it on Friday.

He had the final speech of the night, a humorous dissertation that spanned his long journey in the sport.

His speech had serious moments like thanking his parents, Phil Harrison and Lucille O’Neal, for giving him the discipline and drive that drove his NBA dream.

But he also tossed in light moments. He thanked former Lakers teammate Kobe Bryant for helping him win three NBA titles, “but also for getting me pushed off the team and traded to Miami.”

Before host Ahmad Rashad could even introduce Iverson, the first mention of his name started a roar of cheers throughout the assembled audience.

Dressed in all black, former MVP known as “A.I.,” blew kisses has tears began to form in his eyes.

“Thank God for loving me and blessing me,” Iverson said, “to be the man that I am and having no regrets for the man that I am. A man that my family loves, my teammates love and my fans love.”

“(After) the incident happened in high school and all that was taken away…no other schools would recruit me anymore,” Iverson recalled. “My mom went to Georgetown and begged him to give me a chance. And he did.”

He said he later left Georgetown only as “an OK basketball player.”

“But once I started to listen to Larry Brown and take constructive criticism, I learned how much of a great, great coach that he really is. … That’s when I became an MVP.”

Iverson saved his final thank you for wife Tawanna.

“You’re just the best to me,” he said. “I want you to walk around and be proud of yourself that you are a Hall of Famer.”

Two of the themes on the night were family and journeys. That was the essence of Swoopes’ speech, who was thankful of her path from tiny Brownsfield, Texas, and that her cancer-stricken mother, Louise, was able to see it.

“What a ride it’s been,” she said.

The 7-foot-6 Yao’s arrival from China to the NBA in 2002 instantly helped bring the game to a broader international audience.

He was Friday’s first inductee, an honor which he joked that should have gone to Iverson.

“You know why? Because I need more practice than him,” Yao said to applause from the crowd and a laugh from Iverson.

Yao also thanked his early mentors in China, former NBA Commissioner David Stern for his vision in wanting Yao to play in the league, as well his first teammates on the Houston Rockets. He also singled is former NBA coaches, including Rudy Tomjonavich and Jeff Van Gundy.

Reinsdorf, the longtime Bulls owner, chronicled what led him to purchase the Bulls in 1984. It was a move he said legendary New York Yankees coach George Steinbrenner panned, telling him he’d never make any money.

He enjoyed proving him wrong.

“It’s been a great life,” he said. “I know it’s the fourth quarter, but I’m hoping for overtime.”

Like his father, Shaq too has a wish.

“One day when some father quizzes his sons on the greats of the game, I hope Shaquille O’Neal will be the answer,” he said.

ALLENDALE, Mich. (WOOD) — After 20 years, Tim Selgo has only a few weeks left as Grand Valley State University’s athletic director.

Selgo has been in college athletics for 35 years, 28 of which were as an administrator. He became GVSU’s AD in 1996. During that time, Lakers athletic teams have earned 19 national championships and 11 NACDA Directors’ Cups.

Selgo announced his impending retirement in August; his last day is July 15.

Friends, family alumni and coaches honored him at a retirement reception Friday.

==Above, Selgo talks about his time at GVSU and former Grand Valley football coach Brian Kelly (now Notre Dame’s head coach) discusses Selgo’s impact.==

The Michigan State standout was the last of the Green-Room invitees to hear his name called. He and his family had left the room and the draft floor just before the end of the first round, then emerged for the start of the second round.

Some projected him as a lottery pick, but that didn’t happen. Most had him going in the Top 20, but that didn’t happen either.

He’s not the first Michigan State guy to be disappointed by not making the first round. Maybe Draymond Green’s experience as a second-round pick can inspire Davis now.

CHICAGO (AP) — The Chicago Bulls drafted Michigan State small forward Denzel Valentine with the 14th overall pick in the NBA Draft on Thursday.

The 2015-16 AP national player of the year, Valentine joins a team that traded former MVP Derrick Rose to New York on Wednesday in a blockbuster. The deal that brought one of the most successful and disappointing periods in the franchise’s history to an end.

Valentine averaged 19.2 points per game, 7.5 rebounds, and 7.8 assists last season. But a lingering knee injury might have raised concerns for some teams.

Chicago, which also held the 48th pick, is in transition after missing the playoffs for the first time since 2008 in its first season under coach Fred Hoiberg. The Bulls sent guard Justin Holiday and a 2017 second-round pick with Rose to New York in exchange for center Robin Lopez and guards Jose Calderon and Jerian Grant.

But more than anything, the deal was a turn-the-page moment. It signaled the official end to a feel-good story that went awry years ago.

With Rose at his explosive best, the Bulls soared to heights they had not experienced since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen led them to a pair of championship three-peats in the 1990s. The South Side native went from Rookie of the Year to All-Star to the NBA’s youngest MVP in his first three seasons.

But the story changed when he tore the ACL in his left knee in the 2012 playoff opener. He sat out the following season and had his long-awaited comeback cut short by a torn meniscus in his right knee. The old explosiveness never returned on a consistent basis, and Rose did not mesh on the court with All-Star Jimmy Butler. He also talked openly about becoming a free agent in 2017.

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indiana Pacers took Michigan forward Caris LeVert with the No. 20 pick in the NBA draft Thursday night and will send him to the Brooklyn Nets to complete a trade for forward Thaddeus Young.

The deal was known publicly a few hours before the draft, but won’t be officially announced until after the new salary cap takes effect.

Indiana still has a second-round pick to make Thursday, No. 50 overall.

Last season at Michigan, the 6-foot-7 LeVert averaged 16.5 points and 5.3 rebounds but only played in 15 games because of injuries.

With the Pacers transitioning to a smaller, faster style, team president Larry Bird wanted someone who could make an immediate impact. LeVert, like most rookies, probably would have needed time to adjust to the NBA game, so Bird made the deal.

What the Pacers are getting in Young is a known commodity.

The 6-foot-8, 221-pound power forward has averaged 13.9 points and 5.9 rebounds in seven NBA seasons and is coming off the most productive season. With Brooklyn in 2015-16, he averaged 15.1 points and 9.0 rebounds.

Bird is finally getting what he wants in another major offseason overhaul.

After letting Frank Vogel depart when his contract expired and promoting Nate McMillan from associate head coach to succeed Vogel, Bird sent combo guard George Hill to Utah and acquired former All-Star Jeff Teague in a three-team deal that finally gave Indiana the natural point guard it has spent years searching for.

On Thursday, Bird filled the Pacers second big need — an athletic power forward who can defend and rebound.

He also has four players, including starting center Ian Mahinmi, ready to hit the free-agent market and is projected to have about $42 million to work with before the luxury tax kicks in.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Deyonta Davis is entering NBA draft after one season at Michigan State.

The school announced his decision Tuesday.

Davis is projected to be a first-round pick. The 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward scored 7.5 points and grabbed 5.5 rebounds per game as a key player on a balanced team. Davis averaged nearly two blocks a game and finished with 64, setting a freshman mark at the school and ranking second for a single season by any player for the Spartans.

He is leaving a day after highly touted recruit Josh Jackson announced he wasn’t coming to Michigan State, choosing to commit to Kansas. Davis departs with seniors Denzel Valentine, Matt Costello and Bryn Forbes along with transfers Marvin Clark and Alvin Ellis.

HOUSTON (AP) — Kris Jenkins is one of those players who believes every shot is going in.

Sometimes, it feels so right to be right.

The Villanova junior answered a double-clutch, game-tying 3-pointer by North Carolina’s Marcus Paige with a buzzer-beating 3 of his own Monday night to lift the Wildcats to a 77-74 victory and the national championship.

One good shot deserved another.

And Jenkins wasn’t about to be outdone.

“I think every shot’s going in,” he said, “and this one was no different.”

The shot came on a play Villanova works on every day in practice: Jenkins inbounds the ball to Ryan Arcidiacono, he works it up court and forward Daniel Ochefu sets a pick near halfcourt to clutter things up, then Arcidiacono creates.

This time, the senior point guard made an underhanded flip to Jenkins, who spotted up a pace or two behind the arc and swished it with Carolina’s Isaiah Hicks running at him. Or, as Jenkins put it: “One, two step, shoot ’em up, sleep in the streets.”

Jenkins had to come up big after Paige collected a pass on the top right side of the arc and, with Arcidiacono running at him, double clutched and pumped it in to tie the game at 74 with 4.7 seconds left.

It completed a Carolina comeback from six points down with 1:52 left.

Coach Jay Wright called timeout and called the play the Wildcats (33-5) have worked on all season.

“I didn’t have to say anything in the huddle,” he said. “We have a name for it, that’s what we’re going to do. Just put everybody in their spots.”

He knew the shot was going in, too.

“Bang,” Wright said as he watched it fall, then calmly walked to shake Carolina coach Roy Williams’ hand. Confetti flew. The refs looked at the replay to make sure the shot got off in time. It did. The points went up on the scoreboard. Celebration on.

Jenkins finished with 14 points — the last three as memorable as any that have been scored in the history of this tournament.

After being thrown to the floor by his teammates, Jenkins got up, leaped over press row, hugged his birth mom — a college basketball coach who helped him hone his shot — and shouted, “They said we couldn’t, they said we couldn’t, they said we couldn’t.”

Oh yes, they could.

This adds to the title Villanova won in 1985, when Rollie Massimino, who was on hand Monday night, coaxed a miracle out of his eighth-seeded underdogs for a victory over star-studded Georgetown.

Hard to top this one, though.

Jenkins, who was adopted by the family of North Carolina guard Nate Britt when his mother moved to take a coaching job, now has a spot alongside — and probably above — Keith Smart, Lorenzo Charles, Christian Laettner and everyone else who ever made a late game-winner to win a big one in March Madness.

Paige finished with 21 and Joel Berry II had 20 for the Heels (33-7), the only No. 1 seed to make the Final Four. They came one agonizing shot short of giving Williams his third national title.

Not surprisingly, the tears flowed from the 65-year-old coach who, some speculate, could have worked his last game on the sideline; the entire sports program at Chapel Hill is under NCAA scrutiny and awaiting possible penalties for a long-running academic-fraud case.

“I’m not very good because I can’t take away the hurt,” Williams said. “I told them I loved them. I told them I wish I could have helped them more.”

His thought when he saw the last shot fly: “It was helpless. It was not a good feeling.”

Even MJ felt the pain. In the stands with the thousands of Carolina Blue-wearing fans, Michael Jordan simply nodded, smiled, looked at his buddy Ahmad Rashad and said, “Good shot, good shot.”

High praise from the Great One. And what a night for Villanova — a second-seeded team full of scrappers, grinders and also-rans, who proved you don’t have to have a roster full of NBA-bound one-and-doners to win a title. More people in the ESPN bracket contest picked ‘Nova to lose to a No. 15 seed in the first round than to win the whole thing. This team flamed out early in the last two tournaments despite big expectations.

Not this time.

Before Jenkins did his thing, it was unheralded sophomore Phil Booth — who isn’t unheralded on that Villanova squad? — pouring in a career high 20 points to give the Cats their late six-point lead.

Booth forced a turnaround jumper with the shot-clock blaring to give ‘Nova a 69-64 lead at the 3:03 mark. With 1:52 left, a free throw from Josh Hart pushed the lead to six.

But Carolina never quits. Paige sandwiched a 3-pointer and a putback around a bucket from Brice Johnson (14 points, eight rebounds) to help the Tar Heels stay within striking range. Then, he took a bounce pass, scooted by the diving Ochefu, twisted past Arcidiacono and hit his double-clutch.

Carolina fans went wild, and it looked like overtime.

Only, it wasn’t.

“If I could get a shot, I was going to shoot it,” said Arcidiacono, who finished with 16 points and two assists, one more memorable than the other. “But I heard someone screaming in the back of my head. It was Kris. I just gave it to him and he let it go with confidence.”

The announcement was made in Houston in advance of Monday night’s NCAA Tournament championship game between Villanova and North Carolina.

Izzo has been the men’s basketball coach at Michigan State University for 21 years. He won a national title in 2000, took the Spartans to the Final Four seven times, won seven Big Ten titles and has made 19 straight appearances in the NCAA Tournament.

After the announcement, Izzo talked about receiving the honor just weeks after MSU was upset in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

“From the lowest of lows to the highest of highs, a roller coaster of emotion is what I’ve felt the last couple of weeks. You know the team that beat us played well, but we’ll be back again, but there’s only one chance to get into the Hall of Fame. This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me in my lifetime,” said Izzo.

Izzo was among six people inducted into the Hall of Fame including former NBA stars Iverson, O-Neal and Yao Ming.

Iverson was an 11-time NBA All-Star who was named rookie of the year in 1996-97. The top overall pick in the 1992 draft, O’Neal was a 15-time All-Star who was the NBA MVP in 2000 and a three-time NBA Finals MVP.

Swoopes helped Texas Tech to a national title, won four titles with the Houston Comets, was a three-time WNBA MVP and won three Olympic gold medals.

Yao was the top overall pick in 2002 and was an eight-time NBA All-Star playing his entire career for the Houston Rockets. Reinsdorf has been the owner of the Chicago Bulls and White Sox for more than two decades.

HOUSTON (AP) — Oklahoma senior guard Buddy Hield has won the James A. Naismith Trophy as the nation’s top college player.

The award presented by the Atlanta Tipoff Club was announced Sunday, a day after Hield was held to nine points in the Sooners’ 95-51 loss to Villanova in a national semifinal game.

Villanova coach Jay Wright, whose Wildcats (34-5) play North Carolina on Monday night for the national championship, was named the Naismith coach of the year for the second time. He joined three-time winners John Calipari and Mike Krzyzewski as the only coaches to win the award multiple times.

Valentine averaged 19.2 points, 7.5 rebounds and 7.8 assists this season, becoming the only player in NCAA history to average more than 19 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in one season since the assist became an official statistic in the early 1980s.

Both Hield and Valentine are still up for the Wooden Award, the final major award for the season, which will be handed out Friday.

HOUSTON (AP) — Denzel Valentine of Michigan State is The Associated Press Player of the Year, edging out Oklahoma’s Buddy Hield by three votes.

Valentine is the first Spartans player to win the award. He accepted the trophy Thursday in Houston.

Valentine received 34 of 65 votes from the national media panel that selects the weekly AP Top 25. Hield was the only other player to receive votes. Hield and Valentine were the only unanimous selections to the AP All-America team.

Valentine, a 6-foot-5 senior, led Michigan State (29-6) to a second-place finish in the Big Ten regular season and was the conference player of the year. He averaged 19.4 points, 7.6 rebounds and 7.6 assists.

The Spartans were ranked No. 1 for four weeks and finished second in the final AP Top 25. They lost to Middle Tennessee State in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (WOOD) – Kalamazoo College says it plans to appeal NCAA sanctions that could keep its teams from tournament and conference championship runs.

According to the NCAA, the school’s three major violations involved recruitment practices, awarding financial aid and failure to monitor NCAA financial aid regulations.

The school said the recruiting violation was connected to a new college baseball coach who incorrectly suggested to potential students that he could influence the financial aid process. The NCAA said that coach sent recruiting emails to nearly 30 prospects, saying the admissions office would increase their merit-based financial aid based on his written recommendation.

The NCAA said Kalamazoo College also allowed students’ athletic activities to factor into its financial aid process for at least five years, which is against NCAA rules. Provost Mickey McDonald it was a mistake.

“The College’s admission process and financial aid policy place value on a holistic view of prospective students. Our intent was to treat all students – the musicians, the artists, the student leaders, the athletes-fairly,” said Provost Mickey McDonald in a statement.

The school said the final major violation related to not having appropriate procedures in place for training staff on NCAA financial aid rules.

As punishment, the NCAA banned Kalamazoo College teams with any of the 567 student-athletes who received financial aid in violation of NCAA rules from postseason competition. The ban includes tournaments and any run at a regular season conference championship.

The NCAA also placed the school on a three-year probation, which took effect Tuesday.

The NCAA said Tuesday it did not appear Kalamazoo College intentionally broke association rules and any team that repackages its student aid will not be included in the ban,

The postseason ban will be suspended pending the outcome of the college’s appeal.

Kalamazoo College said the financial aid violations were immediately corrected as soon as school officials found out, and all college coaches have since been trained in financial aid regulations. The school said it’s also hired a consultant to improve its adherence to NCAA rules.

“Kalamazoo College is committed to complying with NCAA rules and regulations,” said President Eileen B. Wilson-Oyelaran in the statement. “We will continue to educate and train our staff and monitor our financial aid programs and recruiting practices so we can best serve our student-athletes and to provide the best athletic program we can.”

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan State’s Deyonta Davis is expected to do his due diligence as he decides whether to enter the NBA draft or stay in school for his sophomore season.

Tom Izzo plans to do a lot of the legwork.

“I’m going to assist him,” Izzo said Tuesday. “I’m going to talk to GMs. I’m going to talk to his high school coach, his grandmother, and I’m going to talk to DD. I’m going to probably give him my personal opinion. And, I’m going to remind everybody that you have to be ready to go physically, you have to be ready to go skillwise and you have to be ready to go mentally.”

Muskegon High School coach Keith Guy said he has spoken to Davis recently, but not about the NBA.

“We’ll probably start talking about that in the next couple of days,” he said.

Even though the 6-foot-10, 240-pound forward needs to get stronger, he is expected to be a first-round pick if he makes himself eligible because of his height and potential.

Davis averaged 7.5 points, making nearly 60 percent of his shots, and 5.5 rebounds a game as a key player for a balanced team. He had nearly two blocks a game and finished with 64. He set a freshman mark for blocks at the school and ranks second in a single season at Michigan State. He played for Muskegon in high school.

“I know DD knows what he has to get better at,” Izzo said. “Whether he thinks he gets better at it here, or gets better at it there, I don’t know. … I would like to do whatever I can do to give Deyonta Davis the best chance to be successful, to be the most equipped to handle the real world. And if that means he comes out, tomorrow, I’m 200 percent for it. If that means he stays three years, I’m 200 percent for that.”